Attention

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

The Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department will host a variety of free financial seminars in the month of September. The seminars will be held at the Ocean Pines Community Center, located at 235 Ocean Parkway in Ocean Pines.

Identity theft will be the topic of a seminar to be held on Friday, Sept. 9 from 6-7 pm and Saturday, Sept. 24 from 10-11 am Robert Mullen will share how thieves obtain personal information and how to reduce your risk.

Greg Reddell, an agent at State Farm Insurance, will discuss estate planning and long-term care on Wednesday, Sept. 14 from 3:30-5 pm and 5:30-7 pm. He will cover retirement realities and how to remove risks that can derail plans.

Compass Investment Advisors will also offer a financial planning seminar on Thursday, Sept. 15 from 6-7 pm and Wednesday, Sept. 21 from 2-3 pm. They will discuss how to protect and grow assets despite volatility in the markets.

Fall house sellers will want to attend a seminar presented by Dr. Amit Poddar, department head and director of Management and Marketing at Salisbury University, on Friday, Sept. 23 from 4:30-7 pm and Saturday, Sept. 24 from 3-5:30 pm. He will share key marketing principles that homeowners listing their property during the fall can use to ensure they receive the best possible price.

Although there is no cost to attend these seminars, spaces are limited and advance registration is required. For more information or to register, call the Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department at 410-641-7052.

Information regarding additional recreational programs, including an online version of the Ocean Pines Activity Guide, is available at OceanPines.org.

Immigrant Muslim youths are throwing powerful bangers at police, attacking public transport, burning garbage and tires in the streets

SWEDEN: In Södertälje, just west of Stockholm, there has been rioting two nights in a row.

Immigrant Muslim youths are throwing powerful bangers at police, attacking public transport, burning garbage and tires in the streets. The gangs also try to lure rescue personnel into traps so that they can attack them. Cars are set ablaze. So far 150 cars have been burned in Södertälje this year without anyone being arrested or suspected.

There have been similar incidents in a number of Swedish suburbs lately, and it is increasing.

Immigrant youths are leading the effort to transform Swedish suburbs into something reminiscent of dysfunctional civil war zones, where people are afraid to go out at night and immigrant gangs ravage.

Saturday night police were alerted that a bus had been subjected to stone throwing in Hovsjö in Södertälje. In addition, powerful firecrackers, known as “bangers”, were thrown at the bus, reports Aftonbladet.

The Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department will host a variety of free health-related seminars in the month of September. The seminars will be held at the Ocean Pines Community Center, located at 235 Ocean Parkway in Ocean Pines.

Back in Action Physical Therapy will hold a balance seminar on Monday, Sept. 12 from 12:30-1:30 pm. The class will teach ways to improve safety in the home and community, strategies to improve balance and the role of strength, flexibility and endurance to help reduce falls.

Then on Tuesday, Sept. 13 from 11 am-noon Home Instead Senior Care will host a seminar on aging and how it affects the eyes. Additional aging seminars will be held in October and November.

Back in Action Physical Therapy will return on Monday, Sept. 19 from 12:30-1:30 pm with Kappes Wellness Centers to present a seminar on the difference between chiropractic and physical therapy.

Learn about posture on Monday, Sept. 26 from 12:30-1:30 pm. Back in Action Physical Therapy will share the negative health effects of poor posture and strategies to improve it.

Although there is no cost to attend these seminars, spaces are limited and advance registration is required. For more information or to register, call the Ocean Pines Recreation and Parks Department at 410-641-7052.

Information regarding additional recreational programs, including an online version of the Ocean Pines Activity Guide, is available atOceanPines.org.

The FBI's Labor Day weekend document dump regarding its investigation of Hillary Clinton gives those who thought the result was predetermined much to complain about. The FBI's notes confirm that her former chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, was among the several lawyers representing Clinton in her FBI interview. Mills was hip-deep in the events at the heart of the FBI's criminal investigation and was herself a material witness who had previously sat for her own interview. Yet not only was she allowed by the Department of Justice to participate as counsel in Clinton's interview, her communications with Clinton and other material witnesses also were actively protected by the Department of Justice throughout the criminal and civil investigations.

Typically, the DOJ would look askance where a material witness sought to act as a lawyer for the subject of a federal criminal investigation. In Mills's case, Justice lawyers went out of their way to accommodate this highly unusual dual-hat role. For those who wonder whether Clinton's FBI interview was all for show, Mills's participation as a lawyer should be Exhibit A.

Mills, who was a regular correspondent with Clinton on Clinton's home-brewed email, testified as a fact witness about her personal knowledge of Clinton's email setup in both the FBI investigation and related civil depositions. At the same time, Mills purported to represent Clinton as her lawyer. Mills was not, however, a lawyer for Clinton during her tenure at the State Department. Her title was "Chief of Staff and Counselor." But the "counselor" position was, according to Mills's testimony in one of the many Clinton email FOIA cases, "not a lawyer role"; it was a "policy role." Mills contends that, after leaving the State Department in 2013, she was hired by Clinton as her personal lawyer to coordinate the response to State's demand for return of her emails.

In 1964, Phyllis Schlafly of Alton, Illinois, mother of six, wrote and published a slim volume entitled “A Choice Not an Echo.”

Backing the candidacy of Sen. Barry Goldwater, the book was a polemic against the stranglehold the eastern liberal establishment had held on the Republican nomination for decades.

Schlafly went on to lead the campaign to derail the Equal Rights Amendment, which, with 35 states having ratified, was just three states short of being added to our Constitution.

Pro-ERA forces never added another state. Phyllis, who, at 20 was testing weapons at a munitions plant in World War II, shot it dead.

At 92, the founder of Eagle Forum has a new book out, published by Regnery. “The Conservative Case for Trump,” co-authored by Ed Martin of Eagle Forum and Brett Decker, argues that the Donald is an authentic conservative around whom every conservative should rally.

Yet, in making their cogent case, Schlafly and her co-authors raise questions that today bedevil the movement.

What does conservatism mean in 2016? Upon what ideas and issues, principles and policies, do conservatives still agree?

In a stunning decision watched closely by other states, the Supreme Court on Wednesday, in a 4-4 split, left standing an appeals court decision that gutted North Carolina’s voter ID provisions.

The plan by the state to protect the integrity of its elections had been affirmed in a nearly 500-page decision by a district court judge, but this summer a panel from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals claimed it targeted minority voters.

The single-page order from the Supreme Court provided no explanation for the decision, but it revealed Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas would have given the state at least temporary relief until the full arguments were heard.

In a revealing statement that flew largely under the radar earlier this month, the mainstream media admitted it would never recover from its irresponsible and negligent coverage of the 2016 presidential election. A recent column published in the New York Post referred to the media’s reporting as “the complete collapse of American journalism as we know it.”

In his article for the Post, Fox News contributor Michael Goodwin discussed the media’s pro-Clinton bias – one recognized by supporters of virtually every other presidential candidate, from Bernie Sanders to Jill Stein to Gary Johnson and, of course,Donald Trump. Even Americans who don’t necessarily have a horse in the 2016 race notice the slant.

“By torching its remaining credibility in service of Clinton,” Goodwin wrote, “the mainstream media’s reputations will likely never recover, nor will the standards. No future producer, editor, reporter or anchor can be expected to meet a test of fairness when that standard has been trashed in such willful and blatant fashion.”

Indeed, he is correct in this regard. The Clinton machine has effectively infiltrated corporate media. Last year, theIntercept reported MSNBC failed to disclose that multiple pundits who spoke favorably about Clinton were actually employees of a consulting firm hired by her campaign.

Hillary Clinton’s post-convention lead has disappeared, putting her behind Donald Trump for the first time nationally since mid-July.

The latest weekly Rasmussen Reports White House Watch national telephone and online survey shows Trump with 40% support to Clinton’s 39% among Likely U.S. Voters, after Clinton led 42% to 38% a week ago. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson now earns seven percent (7%) of the vote, down from nine percent (9%) the previous two weeks, while Green Party candidate Jill Stein picks up three percent (3%) support. Three percent (3%) like some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Clinton's support has been trending down from a high of 44% in early August just after the Democratic National Convention. This isher lowest level of support since mid-July. Trump's support has been eroding, too, from his high of 44% at that time. A one-point lead is statistically insignificant in a survey with a +/- 3 percentage point of margin of error. It highlights, however, that this remains a very close race.

Both major candidates have lost some support this week from voters in their respective parties. Trump now has the backing of 71% of Republicans, down from 76% a week ago. Clinton has 73% of the Democratic vote, down from 79% in the previous survey. Trump attracts 15% of Democrats, while 12% of Republicans prefer Clinton. The GOP nominee continues to hold a small lead among voters not affiliated with either major political party, this week leading 36% to 28%

Whenever you see a story using children, it is the first sign of propaganda. Whenever they use children, it is to cover-up something or to get you to support some agenda. They used pictures of children sell the refugee crisis, yet more than 60% are not even from Syria and most of the refugees are young males and not families.

The latest attempt to influence Europeans is this one that even the Guardian just declared the “new symbol of the horror in Syria.” Children are always exploited to sell an agenda.

This is the primary tool of all propaganda machines. The British established the Office of War Propaganda during World War I and became the first to establish a government agency for the purpose of creating propaganda. They enlisted famous authors like Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, and Rudyard Kipling to write books casting the Germans as the enemy. MI6 has since created Innovative Communications & Strategies (InCoStrat), which is a sophisticated propaganda machine.

The United States adopted the British method in 1917 after establishing the Committee on Public Information in which they carried out experiments to manipulate people to a given agenda. They too employed some well-known people such as journalist Walter Lippmann and the inventor of modern publicity, Edward Bernays, who was Sigmund Freud’s nephew.

Bank of America was able to wipe about $225 million off its record $16.6 billion Justice Department mortgage fraud settlement by making donations to nonprofit and legal groups approved by the Obama administration.

But the bank only had to make $100 million in donations to do that, thanks to little-known provisions in the settlement, included at the Obama administration's insistence.

Groups receiving the money include liberal organizations such as Hispanic civil rights group the National Council of La Raza ($1.5 million), the National Urban League ($1.1 million) and the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America ($750,000). Another $4.3 million went to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a nonprofit where former Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin is chairman.

The bank disclosed all of the donations made and credit received in a document published online Wednesday. The more than 2-for-1 credit was a key part of the deal the Justice Department offered to get the bank to settle. For every $1 the bank has given the nonprofits, it has claimed at least $2 off the settlement, sometimes more. The Obama administration included the provision to ensure that some of the settlement funds would go to friendly liberal groups, bypassing the normal congressional appropriations process.

Lanier leaves in two weeks for a position with the NFL. Many city officials praised her for a drop in crime and for a better relationship between local neighborhoods and the police. Lanier said she is frustrated with what many see as a revolving door for offenders, which puts violent criminals back on the streets. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is dealing with a massive spike in homicides in the last two years, and Lanier said the convoluted justice system does not help the situation, reports The Washington Post.

Police arrested a man under house arrest last week who went on a crime spree after his GPS tracking device stopped working. Despite losing the signal, officials did nothing to alert the proper authorities.

The homicide rate in the District spiked 54 percent in 2015, and is only 13 percent lower so far this year. Homicides have tripled this year in Ward 7. D.C. is suffering a violent year overall, with 94 homicides across the city. The alarming surge in homicides is down from the shocking numbers in 2015, but is still historically high. There were a total of 105 homicides in 2014 and 88 in 2012.

“The criminal justice system in this city is broken,” Lanier said. “You can’t police the city if the rest of the justice system is not accountable.”

The incomplete records of the Hillary Clinton email investigation released by the FBI raise questions about the conduct not only of Clinton but of her top aides and the staffers working under their direction. Perhaps the most serious is whether the Clinton team destroyed evidence which they were under legal order to save and produce to congressional investigators.

Out of a massive investigation, the FBI has released just two documents: a heavily-redacted version of its summary report and a writeup — the so-called 302 — from agents' July 2 interview with Clinton. The rest, including reports from interviews with other players, remains secret, although the FBI has shared it with Congress, with redactions and under tight viewing restrictions.

Shortly after the two documents were released on the Friday afternoon before Labor Day, Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, sent out a statement suggesting he does not believe the documents tell the full story, and that if the full story were told it might suggest wrongdoing on the part of the Clinton team.

"The FBI selectively releasing Secretary Clinton's interview summary is of little benefit to the public unless and until all relevant documents and witness interview summaries are released," Gowdy said. "The public is entitled to all relative information, including the testimony of the witnesses at Platte River Networks, the entity which maintained the private server. The public will find the timeline and witness responses and failures to respond instructive."

It comes as no surprise that the loudest voices in opposition to Gov. Larry Hogan's common-sense measure to start the school year after Labor Day are coming from the most partisan Democrats who will stop at nothing to stop the governor from enacting the change he was elected to deliver ("Hogan and Franchot: Profiles in pandering," Sept. 2).

If it had been Anthony Brown's signature issue that mandated a post-Labor Day start, I doubt we would hear this much griping and vitriol from Democratic legislators, the teacher's union and the like. That's because Gov. Martin O'Malley's own task force of teachers, administrators, parents, business owners and legislators voted overwhelmingly to recommend starting school after Labor Day and found absolutely no evidence to suggest there was a detrimental impact on students in doing so.

In fact, over 70 percent of Marylanders, two governors, the comptroller and dozens of Republican and Democratic legislators are in support of starting school after Labor Day. Even Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller was for it before he was against it, having supported the measure in 2013 under Governor O'Malley. It wasn't until Governor Hogan made his announcement that Senator Miller found the idea "extraordinary and legally questionable."

Theo Olson, a 16-year special education teacher in the St. Paul (Minnesota) Public Schools, has officially retired after coming to an agreement with the district back on August 18.

After noting on local Black Lives Matter organizer Rashad Turner’s Facebook page back in March that, among other things, students “won’t quit gaming, setting up fights, [and] selling drugs,” Olson was dubbed a “white supremacist teacher” by Turner.

On Monday, September 5, 2016 @ 1909 Wicomico Central alerted Station 5 for a reported MVC with a vehicle into a house at 27645 Ocean Gateway. Ladder-5 arrived to find a single vehicle into the Delta side of a one story single family residence, 517 (Beach) established Ocean Gateway command and the crew made quick work with a fire extinguisher under the hood. The single patient was out of the vehicle upon arrival and PM-B-5 transported to PRMC as a priority 2.

French farmers, truckers and police have all united in a major protest in Calais, France calling on President Hollande to announce specific plans for the demolition of the "Jungle" camp which houses around 7,000-9,000 refugees primarily from Northern Africa and the Middle East. Farmers and truckers have parked their trucks and tractors on major freeways effectively creating a blockade of the Calais port.

Accorded to RT, violent crime within the camp has been on the rise and presents an increased danger to Calais residents. Reports have surfaced of some migrants attacking passing motorists, throwing various objects at windscreens and cutting trees in an attempt to hijack vehicles. There have also been reports of migrants threatening drivers with chainsaws and machetes.

"They turn up in the center of the town, numbering 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, all over the place. They smash cars with iron bars. They assault people; they even assault children. They rob and they rape. What we endure is unimaginable."

On Saturday, September 3, 2016 @ 1706 Wicomico Central alerted Station 5 for a reported MVC with injuries in the area of 7181 Quantico Rd. Ladder-5 arrived on location with a single vehicle off the roadway, on it's side with a single occupant outside of the vehicle. Crews assisted PM-B-5 with patient packaging and removal. PM-B-5 transported 1 priority 1 patient to PRMC. 1 dog had to be extricated from the vehicle through the front windshield.

We’ve all heard the story of how the emperor Nero fiddled as Rome burned. Today, we use it an as analogy, whenever fitting, to show the callousness of either a person or entity when they are obviously engaged in wreaking havoc or utter devastation; all while caring none-the-least.

Nobody seems to fit that bill today more than central bankers. And to show just how Nero-esque they can be, it was none other than our own Stanley Fischer, current V.C. of the Fed. who displayed in an interview with Tom Keene of Bloomberg™ what can only be deemed as the most infuriating lack of compassion, as well as sheer imperialist intoned advice. Here’s a few “gems” from that interview. When it comes to negative rates? To wit:

While the Fed isn’t “planning to do anything in that direction,” the central banks using them “basically think they’re quite successful,” Fischer said Tuesday on Bloomberg Television with Tom Keene in Washington.

“We’re in a world where they seem to work,” Fischer said, noting that while negative rates are “difficult to deal with” for savers, they typically “go along with quite decent equity prices.”

So what is one to infer? Easy: Fed to savers and the prudent: Screw you – buy stocks.

PLEA ACCEPTED IN VEHICLE ARSON CASE

WICOMICO COUNTY, MD (September 7, 2016) Deputy State Fire Marshals have concluded a vehicle arson case against Johnny Pierre (36). Pierre accepted a Plea Agreement and plead guilty to Malicious Burning – Fraud. He received a sentence of 5 years with all time suspended except for 60 days and 2 years of supervised probation. Pierre must also pay a fine of $1,000.00 dollars to comply with the plea agreement.

Deputy State Fire Marshals determined Pierre was responsible for intentionally setting fire to his 2008 Nissan Rouge along South Fruitland Boulevard in Fruitland on December 27, 2015. Fruitland Volunteer Fire Department responded to the one alarm blaze and quickly controlled the fire within five minutes after arrival. The investigation into the origin and cause of the fire revealed the fire was intentionally ignited inside the engine compartment. The subsequent investigation led Deputy State Fire Marshals to the owner of the vehicle who was identified as Pierre.

FALLSTON, MD - In a victory against lawsuits intended to keep Marylanders from speaking out on matters of public concern, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland is pleased to announce that a lawsuit filed against two Fallston women simply because they spoke out against the development envelope expansion in Harford County has been dismissed. So-called "Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation" or "SLAPP" suits are intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of litigation and threats of big damage awards. Prior to ACLU representation Stephanie Flasch and Beth Poggioli accrued $8,000 in legal fees, though it was only the beginning stage of defending against the frivolous lawsuit.

Quote from Deborah Jeon, ACLU of Maryland legal director: "It is great news that this lawsuit has been dismissed, but more work is needed for Maryland to send a message that frivolous lawsuits intended to silence free speech will not be tolerated. We need changes to state law to strengthen legal protections against SLAPP lawsuits, to ensure community members can speak their minds on government policies and proposals without the intimidation and expense of having to defend themselves in court."

Quote from Stephanie Flasch, ACLU client:"I was very surprised that just speaking out on a county issue could spark such a frivolous lawsuit. I hope the dismissal restores confidence within the community about providing opinions about how we would like Harford County to grow. I want people to feel comfortable and not fearful, to know that they can speak out on local matters without the threat of a lawsuit just for expressing themselves."

Quote from Beth Poggioli, ACLU client:"I didn't realize these kinds of things can happen. Many people in the community who supported our campaign were intimidated by the lawsuit and didn't come forward and speak up because of that fear. I believe this type of lawsuit was an attempt to use the justice system as a means of legal extortion. Now, I am supporting reform because many states have stronger legislation against SLAPP suits than Maryland and that needs to change. We are so very grateful to the ACLU for getting quick action and showing people what was done to us was wrong.

Stephanie Flasch and Beth Poggioli are represented by Robin R. Cockey and Michael P. Sullivan of Cockey, Brennan & Maloney, PC and by Deborah A. Jeon and David R. Rocah of the ACLU of Maryland. Flasch and Poggioli were previously represented by Kelly M. Preteroti of Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver.

Hillary Clinton has been accused of giving donors to her family's foundation special access to the government when she led the State Department — charges that echo a similar scandal from nearly 20 years ago, when President Bill Clinton was accused of ignoring U.S. national security to please a Democratic donor.

In 1996, a U.S. company gave China vital technical information that boosted its missile program, an incident that Clinton's own national security team said was a major mistake.

But instead of punishing that company, Clinton rewarded it by approving the sale of another one of its satellites to China, and dismissed national security concerns as he took that step.

The move was seen as controversial in no small part because the CEO of the company Clinton helped was a major donor to Clinton and other Democrats.

Once again, Team Clinton is seemingly confirming the “Sick Hillary” rumors that continue to run rampant via the Alternative Media.

Here is the vehicle Hillary used recently for a New York fundraiser that included what appears to be a wheelchair lift. Hillary’s vehicle is on the left via a NYT photo. You can clearly see the alleged wheelchair lift. A comparison photo of a similar wheelchair lift is on the right.

In the latest FBI document release we have learned more about the tangled web being weaved by Hillary Clinton and her cronies. As it turns out, the Secretary of State of the United States apparently had no idea how Confidential and Classified documentation was marked. Never mind that the Secretary is one of the few people in this country with the authority to actually determine what can be classified and on what level. And if Clinton’s unsecured email server debacle wasn’t enough, it turns out that the former Secretary misplaced mobile devices and laptops containing highly sensitive material. This is the person now running for the highest office in the land. In the following article Karl Denninger of the Market Ticker succinctly explains why she is clearly not qualified for the job.The Smell Test

Incidentally, if you ever talk or work with these guys this is the sort of “memorialization” to expect them to take; it looks right up the middle of the line in that regard, so leave the conspiracy theories at home.

First, we’re supposed to believe that Hillary required no fewer than eight mobile devices during her tenure as Secretary of State. I don’t know what sort of garbage that is, but they were all BlackBerries, and I will note for the record that BlackBerry makes one of the more-solid pieces of hardware out there when it comes to mobile technology. I still have two Z10s — one of which I keep in my car as an emergency backup phone — that work fine; I had one that blew up due to a manufacturing defect out of warranty (heat sink paste improperly applied) and a second that my kid legitimately got salty water into and shorted it out. My kid, who is far rougher than I am on mobile devices, has had two phones in the last four years, one of which (a Z30) she’s still using. Hillary was SoS for four years and during this time we’re supposed to believe that she destroyed a phone on an average of once every six months.

A member of the Clinton Foundation’s board of directors appeared naked in the April 1979 issue of Playboy magazine and has a Ph.D. from a distance-learning, for-profit college with exactly zero actual classrooms.

One month ago, Donald Trump urged his followers to sell stocks, warning of "very scary scenarios" for investors, and accused the Fed of setting the stage for the next market crash when he said that “interest rates are artificially low” during a phone interview with Fox Business. "The only reason the stock market is where it is is because you get free money."

Earlier today, speaking to a reporter traveling on his plane who asked Trump about a potential rate hike by the Fed in September, Trump took his vendetta to the next level, saying that the Fed is "keeping the rates artificially low so the economy doesn't go down so that Obama can say that he did a good job. They're keeping the rates artificially low so that Obama can go out and play golf in January and say that he did a good job. It's a very false economy. We have a bad economy, everybody understands that but it's a false economy. The only reason the rates are low is so that he can leave office and he can say, 'See I told you.'"

He then lashed out at Yellen, whom he accused of having a political mandate when conducting monetary policy: "So far, I think she's done a political job. You understand that."

Berlin is mooting the idea of sending migrants back to Greece for the first time in five years.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere says that Germany has done its bit to help refugees, but needed help from the rest of the bloc to take in migrants.

De Maiziere is adamant that the EU needs to adopt a common policy towards refugees and that Berlin is unable to handle the burden on its own. Under the Dublin regulations, migrants should be processed in the first member state they entered, which for many was Greece.

“We have done a lot in Europe in order to improve the refugee situation in Greece,” de Maiziere told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, as cited by Deutsche Welle. “This must have consequences that will enable refugees to be sent back to Greece according to the Dublin regulations.”

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte called Barack Obama a "son of a whore" on Monday as he vowed not to be lectured by the US leader on human rights when they meet in Laos.

The acid-tongued Duterte bristled at warnings he would face questioning by the US president over a war against drugs in the Philippines that has claimed more than 2,400 lives in just over two months.

"You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte told a news conference shortly before flying to Laos to attend a summit.

"We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me."

Duterte was due to hold a bilateral meeting with Obama on Tuesday afternoon on the sidelines of a gathering of global leaders hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vientiane, the Lao capital.

But shortly after Duterte spoke, Obama appeared to cast doubt on whether such a meeting could take place.

Calling Duterte "a colourful guy", the US president said was asking his staff to find out whether a meeting would be useful.

Reports this week are horrific and yet, not surprising. Chicago has had its most violent month since 1997, with the Chicago Tribune reporting 11 people murdered the last weekend of August. According to USA Today, the murder rate in Chicago has soared 72 percent in 2016.

But here’s the number which should give every American true perspective: In Afghanistan, from the start of the war in 2001 to August 2016, there have been 2,384 American casualties. In Chicago, since 2009 to August 2016, there have been 3,686 homicides. In other words, under President Obama’s watch, there have been 1,302 more people murdered in an American city in half the time compared to the longest war in U.S. history.

When asked by a perplexed media if Mr. Obama had any plan to address the carnage in his hometown, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the president was “concerned” but according to the Free Beacon noted, “Well, I’m not aware of any specific prescription that the president’s prepared to put forward to address the situation just inChicago.”

This is a rather strange passivity for a man who gives speeches and issues executive orders about which bathroom school children should use, yet he’s just not into engaging on an issue that kills those same children as they walk to school.

CALIFORNIA, Md. (ABC7) — A drone flight over the Chesapeake Bay could one day be our lifeline.

“We need to keep pushing the boundaries to go further, go higher, go bigger,” said Matt Scassero, the director of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Site at the University of Maryland.

Scassero showed us his mission from two weeks ago. The drone carried what would be real medication in an emergency. It traveled 28-minutes over the Bay from Calvert County to Dorchester County. A car ride would take about three hours and 45 minutes.

Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump among several key demographic groups, but she has also locked up a surprisingly large portion of one small but notable niche: neoconservatives.

In an interview with Der Spiegel published on Friday, Paul Wolfowitz, who served as deputy secretary of defense during George W. Bush’s presidency, said he would likely vote for Hillary Clinton—though he noted he had “big reservations” about her. Wolfowitz said he agreed with those who deemed the Republican nominee a security threat.

“The only way you can be comfortable about Trump's foreign policy, is to think he doesn't really mean anything he says,” he said. “Our security depends on having good relationships with our allies. Trump mainly shows contempt for them. And he seems to be unconcerned about the Russian aggression in Ukraine. By doing this he tells them that they can go ahead and do what they are doing. That is dangerous.”

Wolfowitz is only the latest in his cohort to throw his support behind Clinton, or at the very least to declare public opposition to Trump. Neoconservative intellectuals and pundits like Bill Kristol, Max Boot, and Robert Kagan have also been particularly harsh in criticizing Trump. Richard Armitage, who is less associated with the group but served under Bush, has also announced he’ll support Clinton. Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President Bush himself have remained pointedly silent, declining to back the Republican nominee.

DES MOINES - Bakken Pipeline construction has halted here in Iowa. Fifteen Iowa landowners filed an emergency ruling with the Iowa Utilities Board this week over the state's use of eminent domain. The IUB says construction must cease in those areas until they make a decision.The IUB will meet Thursday morning to discuss this issue. But landowners are not the only ones fighting the pipeline. There has been controversy all along the route, which starts in North Dakota, goes through South Dakota, cuts diagonally through Iowa, and then ends in Illinois.

Protesters went as far as Washington, D.C. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota made their voices heard on the national stage Wednesday. They met with a federal judge about whether or not Dakota Access should be allowed to put the pipeline underneath that reservation.

The Associated Press says the judge will consider their request to temporarily stop construction of the pipeline, but a ruling will not happen until September 9th.

A cash-strapped Texas school district where teachers turn to the web to raise money for basic supplies incurred an unexpected expense this year: $1.2 million to change the names of eight schools that previously honored Confederate leaders.

The Houston Independent School District, which enters the fiscal year with a $95 million deficit, voted last spring to strip the schools of the names of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston and Stonewall Jackson; Confederate President Jefferson Davis; Confederate Postmaster General John H. Reagan and Confederate soldiers Dick Dowling and Sidney Lanier.

“We have a school district that is broke -- without libraries and in desperate need of repair -- yet we’re going to spend $1.2 million to re-name these schools?” said Wayne Dolcefino, president of a communications firm hired by parents and families opposed to the re-naming. “At the end of the day, if we can’t figure out that every penny we have should be spent to prepare our children for the future rather than litigating what people did 150 years ago . . . we’re in trouble.”
Click link below to read morehttp://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/06/strapped-houston-schools-spent-1-2m-to-erase-confederate-names.htm

Out of the world's 50 most violent cities, 41 are in Latin America including 21 in Brazil. As Statista's Nial McCarthy write, The Mexico Citizens Council for Public Security releases its findings on the homicide rate in cities with populations over 300,000 every year.

The infographic below shows the world's top 20 cities, with Caracas, in the socialist utopia Venezuela, in first place with 119.87 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2015.

San Pedro Sula, Honduras (111.03 homicides per 100,000) came second with San Salvador, El Salvador (108.54 homicides per 100,000) rounding off the top three. The majority of the violence in Latin America can be attributed to drug trafficking, gang warfare and political instability.

“[H]e’s following his constitutional right to make a statement,” Obama said at a press conference in Hangzhou, China, responding to a question about the quarterback. “I think there’s a long history of sports figures doing so.”

The president added, “I don’t doubt his sincerity. I think he cares about some real, legitimate issues that have to be talked about. And if nothing else, he’s generated some conversation around some topics that need to be talked about it.”

Dear Colin guess you have been pretty busy these last few days. For the record I don’t think any more or less of you for not standing for the National Anthem. Honestly, I never thought that much about you, or any professional athlete for that matter, to begin with. I’ve read your statement a few times and want you to know I am one of the reasons you are protesting. You see I am a retired police officer that had the misfortune of having to shoot and kill a 19-year-old African American male. And just like you said, I was the recipient of about $3,000 a month while on leave which was a good thing because I had to support a wife and three children under 7-years-old for about 2 months with that money. Things were pretty tight because I couldn’t work part time. Every police officer I’ve ever known has worked part-time to help make ends meet.

You know Colin the more I think about it the more we seem to have in common. I really pushed myself in rehab to get back on the street, kind of like you do to get back on the field. You probably have had a broken bone or two and some muscle strains and deep bruising that needed a lot of work. I just had to bounce back from a gunshot wound to the chest and thigh. Good thing we both get paid when we are too banged up to “play”, huh? We both also know what it’s like to get blindsided. You by a 280- pound defensive end, ouch! Me, by a couple of rounds fired from a gun about 2 feet away, into my chest and thigh. We also both make our living wearing uniforms, right? You have probably ruined a jersey or two on the field of play. I still have my blood stained shirt that my partner and paramedics literally ripped off my back that cold night in January. Fortunately, like you I was given a new one. Speaking of paramedics aren’t you glad the second we get hurt trainers and doctors are standing by waiting to rush onto the field to scoop us up. I’m thankful they get to you in seconds. It only took them about 10 minutes to get to me. By the grace of God, the artery in my thigh didn’t rupture or else 10 minutes would have been about 9 minutes too late. We also have both experienced the hate and disgust others have just because of those uniforms we wear. I sure am glad for your sake that the folks who wear my uniform are on hand to escort you and those folks that wear your uniform into stadiums in places like Seattle!

I guess that’s where the similarities end Colin. You entertain for a living, I and almost 800,000 others across this country serve and protect. Are there some bad apples within my profession? Absolutely and they need to be identified and fired or arrested! But you know what, the vast majority do the right thing, the right way, for the right reason. Did I mention that seconds before I was shot, an elderly African American gentleman walking down the sidewalk, turned to my partner and I as we rode past and said, “Get them.” Get who you ask? The thugs terrorizing an otherwise good and decent neighborhood, home to dozens of good, decent African American families trying to raise those families in communities not protected by gates and security guards. No these folks and families depend on America’s Law Enforcement Officers.

Colin I have buried 7 friends, killed in the line of duty and three others who have committed suicide. I have attended more funerals than I care to remember of neighboring departments who have lost officers in the line of duty, during my career. Law Enforcement Officers with different backgrounds, upbringings, and experiences united by their willingness to answer the call to protect and serve their fellow citizens.

Colin I am sorry for the endorsement deals you may lose and the dip in jersey sales, but please know you will NEVER lose what these men and women and their families have lost. And so whether you stand or sit during the National Anthem means very little to me. As for me and the men and women on whose team I was privileged to serve, we will put on our ballistic vests, badge, and gun, kiss our loved one’s goodbye, for some tragically for the last time, and out into a shift of uncertainty we will go. We will continue to protect and continue to serve and we will be standing at attention Colin, not just for the playing of our National Anthem, but far more importantly for the playing of Taps.

You live in a polluted city, so you have a low-level cough. On your flight to another state, the cough becomes worse because the air in the plane cabin is foul. Unknown to you, a passenger complains to a flight attendant. The passenger is a typical meddler. When you arrive at your destination, a health-agency employee is waiting at the gate for you. He apprehends you and takes you to a room, to decide whether you have a communicable disease. His first standard question—are you up to date on your vaccinations? And things go downhill from there…

It can get worse: the same story as above, except when the detained passenger is injected with a load of vaccines, he then becomes very ill, or even dies. Using plane passenger lists, health authorities search out and detain everyone who was on the flight, claiming the deceased passenger died as a result of a disease—not the vaccinations—and now all the passengers will be detained and “treated,” because they are “infected.”

The United States officially has an obesity crisis. According to a brand new report that was just released by the Trust for America’s Health, at least one out of every five people meet the clinical definition for obesity in all 50 states. But of course in some states things are far worse than that. More than 35 percent of all adults are obese in four states, and the obesity rate is between 30 and 35 percent in 21 other states. And it is important to keep in mind that just needing to lose weight does not mean that you are obese. According to the CDC, you have got to have a body mass index of at least 30.0 to meet the clinical definition for obesity.Each year, the American people spend 60 billion dollars on weight loss programs and products. That breaks down to about 188 dollars for every man, woman and child in the country. We are a nation that is absolutely obsessed with losing weight, and yet obesity levels are hovering near all-time record highs.

President Barack Obama made history Tuesday, nominating the first-ever Muslim-American to serve as a federal judge in the U.S. capital, according to a new report.

Abid Riaz Qureshi, who the commander in chief nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is a partner in a Washington law firm that specializes in false claims, health care fraud and securities violations.

“I am pleased to nominate Mr. Qureshi to serve on the United States District Court bench,” Obama said in a statement, the Huffington Post reported. “I am confident he will serve the American people with integrity and a steadfast commitment to justice.”

However, it is unlikely Qureshi’s nomination will get off the ground. Senate Republicans have promised not to hold any hearings on nominations since the president’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court in March. The nomination was intended to fill the seat vacated by late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died earlier this year.

Focus groups of black voters put together by a Democratic pollster found that Hillary Clinton is underperforming among black voters.

The focus groups were organized by Cornell Belcher of Brilliant Corner Research & Strategy. Belcher previously worked as a pollster for the Democratic National Committee. He found that Hillary is underperforming with black voters in the key states of Ohio and Florida and that they didn’t feel compelled to vote for her out of disdain for Donald Trump.

Some didn’t see why they should not like Trump. “I see why [Hispanics] are scared of him because he is attacking their family. But I don’t understand why I should be more scared than anybody else,” a black Florida millennial Obama surge voter said.

A black non-college graduate Ohio millennial man said, “For the fact they got Hillary against Donald Trump. It’s to tell you that it’s just the lesser of two evils either way you go. If you choose Hillary, she was part of the whole problem that started sending blacks to jail.”

These days it seems that celebrating America is not exactly politically correct, whether its public schools banning the U.S. flag or professional football players refusing to stand for the Star-Spangled Banner.

We’ve seen protesters burn Old Glory while politicians bicker about whether these great United States are still a most exceptional country.

But there’s a little high school on the shores of Lake Michigan that still believes in America. They still believe in concepts like God and Country, duty and honor — the idea that we are still that shining city on a hill.

And what they folks at Mona Shores High School did before the Thursday night football game on Sept. 1st has folks all across the fruited plain grabbing for a hanky.

The Mona Shores Sailors hosted a “Sailor Salute” — a breathtaking celebration to honor the armed forces as well as first responders.

There were tanks and helicopters and marching bands and speeches. They even landed an Army chopper at Sailor Stadium. And of course, you can’t celebrate America without the Freedom Rider motorcycle club. They showed up, too. The kids even passed the hat to raise money for the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans.

School leadership even encouraged folks to show up for the game with American flags. Yes, Mona Shores really is a public school!

NEW YORK – After reporting Bill Clinton was paid $16.5 million to promote a for-profit university that has come to be known as “Clinton U,” many former students have told WND stories, often in heartbreaking fashion, of being victimized by the institution.

As WND reported in June, Clinton was a pitchman for Laureate Education Inc. and its Walden University Online.

The students who contacted WND affirmed the claims of others who charge Walden is a scam that piles tens of thousands of dollars of debt on unsuspecting students while unreasonably delaying degrees or often failing to deliver them.